


Excuses & Explanations

by EthelPhantom



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Because they deserved a happy ending, Fluff, Happy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthelPhantom/pseuds/EthelPhantom
Summary: Suzaku only remembered it was Lelouch's birthday when the prince reminded him about it and then proceeded to mess up.(Where Lelouch never left Pendragon, Britannia never invaded Japan, and Suzaku came there to become a knight)





	Excuses & Explanations

**Author's Note:**

> So it's Lelouch’s birthday and I wrote a little something to him. He never got to see his 19th birthday in canon so hey, now he will.
> 
> Also, I gotta say that I got a lot of help from my dear friend with this as she worked as my beta and helped me come up with ideas as to how to continue.

Suzaku walked down the halls of the Britannian Imperial Palace. It had been around eight years since he’d come there as a knight apprentice, only to get the vi Britannia siblings and the younger one of the li Britannia sisters to like him. He’d tried to avoid them at all costs after he’d found out all of them were somewhat annoying (save for Nunnally, that girl was a saint), especially the older vi Britannia, Lelouch. The only reason Euphemia annoyed him was that she was naive (as though he wasn’t), and because she also had too good of a heart and believed the best of everyone, unlike Suzaku.

Lelouch though… That boy was a pain in the ass. He was way too smart for his own good and he never forgot to remind everyone of  it. Not that he did it on purpose (probably), he just always understood everything and did all the work his father gave him way too quickly, still managing to do it perfectly. How, that Suzaku didn’t understand.

Even so, Lelouch had demanded from his father to make Suzaku his knight, and Suzaku hadn’t really had a choice, so here he was, standing behind Lelouch quietly while he was eating with his little sister and Euphemia. Not that being the young prince’s knight was all that terrible. Even if he hadn’t been able to say yes or no to becoming his knight, Lelouch treated him fairly and it also meant he wasn’t stuck with someone like Schneizel or Guinevere— those two he really didn’t like.

The Japanese still wasn’t completely sure why the raven-haired prince had wanted to make him his knight. All he’d ever said was that Suzaku was ‘pretty good at martial arts and thus could protect him even with no weapons’. Then again, it _was_ true he was good, he’d  been practicing martial arts since he was 4.

If he was being honest, nowadays he kind of enjoyed spending time with the prince, although that was something he’d never admit to Lelouch. No way.

Suzaku felt like he was forgetting something very important about that day, but he wasn’t able to remember what exactly. It was like it was a somehow significant day, but oh well, if he didn’t remember, there was nothing he could do unless someone mentioned it around him. He could definitely not ask Lelouch, no, he’d rather die.

“Sir Kururugi, is there anything I have to do before my birthday party?”, Lelouch asked as he turned around in his chair.

That was it. God help him, Lelouch’s birthdays were always a nuisance. It took him a short while to remember if he had any meetings before the party started or not, but not long enough for Lelouch to get mad. Thank goodness he was quite patient with his knight.

“Yes, you need to check if all the preparations are being taken care of and then after that you have to choose how to dress, sire. It is your 19th birthday after all, so it is likely your father will try to get possible suitors to come”, he answered. Suzaku saw how the prince froze at the mention of possible suitors for a short while. Did he already have someone he liked but couldn’t have them? Maybe they were not of royalty or something alike. Even if Lelouch was only the 19th heir, it wouldn’t be surprising His Majesty Charles would not want any of his children marry a commoner. Not that he should have been able to say anything to that, seeing as his favourite wife, Empress Marianne vi Britannia, Lelouch and Nunnally’s mother, was initially a commoner.

“Of course. In that case, I believe I should leave”, he said and put his wine glass back on the table. Lelouch stood up and kissed both his sisters’ foreheads before leaving. Suzaku, like always, followed him.

“Why is it that you’re always so serious around me and my sisters, although we’ve all said you could perfectly well talk to us, sir Kururugi?”, the prince suddenly asked as they passed the ballroom they were supposed to have the party in. It wasn’t necessarily cold out, but Lelouch had always preferred the inside unlike his sisters who loved playing outside.

“I am your knight and nothing more, I’m not exactly supposed to act ‘friendly’ with you, your highness.”

Lelouch just sighed in response before opening the door to his room. Suzaku stopped at the door, waiting for either the permission to enter the room or the order to stand outside in guard. When he got the first one, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

As he heard the door click shut, Lelouch started going through his closet. He threw his clothes on his bed, and Suzaku was sure the only time he’d seen this many different pieces of clothing _outside_ of Lelouch’s room was when he’d been in a clothing store.

“Nope, not this… Nor this… Oh, here it is!”, Lelouch exclaimed when he found one of his (many) black tailcoats along with a dark grey vest and black dress trousers. The inside of his tailcoat was purple, just like his eyes. Suzaku saw there were thin golden chains attached to the coat at the waist. There was also a white silk scarf around his neck. Suzaku wasn’t sure whether the prince looked gorgeous or absolutely ridiculous. Possibly both.

“Do you think I should use a cape or not? I’m not exactly sure, but I do like them…”, Suzaku heard Lelouch ask as he held a black cape in his left hand. When Suzaku looked at it more carefully, he noticed it was in truth dark purple with a golden lining —in a way so Lelouch-like.

“I think it’d look good, Your Highness, but you’re the one that has to choose, it is your party after all”, he answered truthfully. The raven-haired prince looked at him surprised, as though he hadn’t expected to get an answer (maybe he hadn’t and he’d only been talking to himself), but nodded and gracefully hanged it around his shoulders.

Suzaku glanced at the prince and decided that besides being way too smart for his own good, Lelouch was also far too gorgeous. He felt a blush warm his cheeks and turned around to keep the prince from noticing.

“Sir Kururugi, how do I look?”, Lelouch asked as he adjusted his cape. Suzaku couldn’t turn around and actually look because he knew his cheeks were flushed red, but there was no way he could avoid answering him.

“You look good, sire”, he replied, still not looking. He knew he looked stunning, so technically he wasn’t lying, but if Lelouch realised he hadn’t looked, the prince would call him out on it. There was no way he wouldn’t, considering that to him, the knight hadn’t looked which would make it look like he was lying. Suzaku gulped and bit his lip praying he wouldn’t notice. But, like all the other times something like that happened, no one heard his prayers, and if did, they were more likely doing their best to just ignore him.

“Hey, you aren’t even looking! Oh goodness, what did I do to deserve such behaviour on my birthday from my own knight?”, the prince exclaimed, calling Suzaku out on his behaviour.

Lelouch, like all the other times, was overreacting and being overdramatic about it.

“I only wanted to know what my knight and the only other person in the room thought about my outfit, but no, he’d rather stare at the _very interesting_ wall in front of him—” Suzaku looked down ashamed, but Lelouch just continued, “—or then his own shoes… Really, is it too much to asked for you to at least tell me you don’t want to look? This is very disrespectful of you!”, he nearly shouted. 

Suzaku’s shoulders dropped as he sighed. He was most definitely royally fucked, in two senses of the expression —how had he not realised before he was crushing on his prince. Also, if Lelouch was mad enough, he could (and probably would) punish Suzaku for his behaviour and there’d be nothing he could do to help or stop it.

The prince walked over to Suzaku and tilted his head back up by his chin, forcing him to look into his eyes. Suzaku gulped again, trying to avoid eye contact. The piercing purple eyes Lelouch possessed were annoyingly breathtaking on their own. He didn’t want to risk blushing more, it was embarrassing enough to do so at all in the first place.

“Suzaku, look at me”, he ordered as he saw his knight tried to avoid looking at his eyes. Only then did he see the blush creeping on the Japanese boy’s cheeks. His emerald eyes made it even more clear the boy’s cheeks were red, and the prince had to fight back a smile.

“Are you blushing?”, he asked in amusement and chuckled as the younger smiled with embarrassment. “So that’s why you didn’t look at me”, he laughed and let go of his knight’s chin.

“I apologise, Your Highness. I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate for a prince’s knight to act like this, so—”, Suzaku began but Lelouch cut him off with a finger on his lips.

“It’s fine, really”, Lelouch smiled. There was a hint of satisfaction and gladness in his voice, and Suzaku realised it’d become soft and quiet. He was scared to guess why Lelouch was suddenly being like this, why there was a glint of happiness in his eyes. Getting his hopes up with a thing like this wasn’t smart.

Lelouch walked back to his bed and sat down on it. When had he put all the clothing back to his closet, that Suzaku didn’t know, but it wasn’t like he actually needed to anyway.

The prince leaned on his hands and tilted his head to the side, looking directly at Suzaku.

“Well, do you have an explanation for your behaviour?”, Lelouch asked, sounding like he was teasing Suzaku.

“I do not have any excuses f—”

“I wasn’t asking for excuses but an explanation. Two different things. Tell me.”

Suzaku took a deep breath.

“WellImightlikeyoualittlebiteventhoughyou’reaprinceandI’mjustyourknightandI’msorry”, he breathed out, far too fast for anyone to understand, including Lelouch, he hoped. But then again, Lelouch didn’t have to understand in order to know what the knight had just said. Smirking, he gestured Suzaku to come closer. And so he did.

There was something in the way Lelouch acted that made Suzaku uncomfortable, but it also made his stomach twist in a way too pleasant to ignore. He looked into Lelouch’s eyes and waited for him to do something, scared he had misunderstood the whole situation.

He felt a tug on his collar and before he could really react in any way, he was being dragged down. Suzaku felt soft, warm lips on his own and suddenly became very aware that his own lips were chapped and dry. He kneeled so that he’d be in a less uncomfortable position and put one of his hands in Lelouch’s hair, the other on his shoulder.

The raven-haired prince’s hands found their way to Suzaku’s waist and tried to bring him closer, the knight complying his prince’s moves.

They broke off the kiss after a while and took a deep breath. Suzaku fell down on his knees, no longer able to support himself, while Lelouch leaned back, finding the wall behind his back.

The curly-haired knight felt his heart beating fast and looked down. He wasn’t sure what to think about the happened, but he was happy. Then there was a pale hand reaching for his own and without thinking Suzaku grabbed it. It made him look up at the young prince in front of him, finding he too was blushing.

Lelouch smiled happily and Suzaku thought it was the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. The prince’s rose coloured lips were slightly wet and glistened in light, and his eyes sparkled. It just lighted his whole face, and so Suzaku found himself smiling as well.

“Sooo… I hope that wasn’t just a cruel joke of you, Your Highness”, the brunet said and bit his lip.

“What? No! I wouldn’t do anything lik— What do you even— No. It wasn’t just a cruel joke, sir Kururugi”, he replied. His voice sounded like he felt insulted Suzaku would even think so  lowly of him. Well, it was likely that that really was the case.

“So you like me?”, Suzaku asked hopefully.

“Yes, I do. I don’t care if father says I shouldn’t because you’re my knight and I’m a prince, I still want this.”

The knight smiled and tilted his head to the side.

“Well then, would you be my boyfriend?”

“Yes, you idiot”, Lelouch answered and looked at the clock on his desk. They only had an hour before his party began and there was no way they could go there looking like this. Both their hair was a mess, Suzaku’s even more than usual, and the Japanese hadn’t yet changed his clothing. Besides, he still had to check how the preparations were going.

“We need to get you a better outfit, let’s go. Also, you never answered my earlier question, do I look good?”, Lelouch asked standing up.

“You look more than just ‘good’, you’re gorgeous, Your Highness. And what’s wrong with my attire, isn’t it formal enough?”

“It’s formal, yes, but I want you to be there as my… friend instead of my knight”, Lelouch said, finding it too difficult to call Suzaku his boyfriend for now.

“Alright, let’s go so we won’t be late”, the younger smiled, still holding his prince’s hand.

And if nothing else, they had fun avoiding all the possible suitors. After the evening Nunnally and Euphemia came to them and asked about what had changed between them, although before either could explain (or make excuses), the two girls had already answered their own question with scary accuracy. They were happy.

And it was not the ending of their story, just the beginning, because like all good romance stories, theirs too began with the ending.

 

Suzaku was glad Lelouch had made him his knight

**Author's Note:**

> Come to talk to me about Code Geass or just something in my [tumblr](https://ethelphantom.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
